Developping story.. Fox News Cable is reporting a video showing Iraqi terrorists shown in the Arab News media that
shows terrorists and a South Korean hostage. They are claiming that these terrorists are making a threat to behead this hostage if South Korea does
not pull out of Iraq..

I do my best to see all sides of a story or situation, since journalism is a hobby of mine, and I believe in being as unbiased as possible, but I just
can't see the justification in taking a human being's head off. I guess that's a good thing, right?

Scroll down for more updated information from ATS members and staff...

South Korea is set to send 3,000 troops to Iraq and it would seem that these terrorist/captors are hoping this will stop them from sending in these
troops and to remove the South Koreans that are there now.

But if they do behead this man I don't think anyone will be able to stop the South Koreans from coming into Iraq.. and these terrorists had better
think of the implications of that!

Associated Press
A man identified as South Korean Kim Soong Il, is seen in this image taken from an undated but recent video obtained by Al-Jazeera television station
Sunday, June 20, 2004. In the video, a group calling itself Monotheism and Jihad...

"Our message is to you, the government of South Korea and the Korean people: we call you on to withdraw your forces from our land and not send new
additional troops to this land Iraq.

"Otherwise, we will send you the head of this Korean (pointing at the hostage) and heads of your other soldiers will follow," one of the captors
said.

No link to the actual video yet.. But I can tell you after watching this as it was breaking on Fox News I did see the whole video and it was quite
shocking and horrific watching this South Korean man beg for his life. I hope this has a good ending. But as we have seen these things usually end
badly.

I thought I would look up the history of beheading to try to get a handle on what these guys hope to accomplish. I mean, it's not as if beheading
hasn't been a method of execution throughout history: ("Bring me the head of the Baptist", Henry the VIIIth, the French guillotine, etc.)

I'm not trying to be gruesome - just trying to figure out what these guys are thinking with these threats. Are they going for the 'horror' factor?
Because apparently, beheading and lopping off hands for stealing is commonplace in their culture.

And yes, it is horrible seeing that poor Korean captive pleading for his life. And 24 hours is ridiculous and obviously only for a show of 'power'.
Holy war aside, these terror-ists seem hellbent on giving the West the heave-ho - and the US State Department has already warned their citizens in
Saudi to leave pronto, so how is that sending the message that the US won't 'back down' (?) Man, the whole region is going to blow up in civil war
and Iran is going to be right there lickin' its chops.

And since the 'terrorists' are decentralized, basically, and when some are captured and killed - more move in to take their place(s) - it's all
becoming like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. The only way to fight them is to pray our brains out for help from 'heaven'!

Originally posted by UM_Gazz
But if they do behead this man I don't think anyone will be able to stop the South Koreans from coming into Iraq.. and these terrorists had better
think of the implications of that!

Gazz

[edit on 20-6-2004 by UM_Gazz]

I know right? If South Koreans do enter to fight insurgents I hope they pull off another "Operation Van Buren".

During "Operation Van Buren," a ROKMC platoon of about 13 people wiped out an elite North Vietnamese Army regiment. There were only 2 Koreans dead
and more than 400 NVA soldiers dead. It was first a gun battle but it broke down into hand to hand combat. The ROKMC had an overall kill ratio of
25:1.

Soldiers of the 2d Battalion, 30th Regiment, 9th (White Horse) Division were airlifted onto Tao Mountain, a base for units of the 5th North Vietnam
Army Division, and searched the caves and trenches on the mountain. Wizen the operation ended, 155 enemy soldiers had been killed while the Koreans
had three killed and one wounded.

What is the coalition going to do about this? The US does not make deals with Terrorists. Last month Al-Qaeda put up it's “Kidnapping & Hostage
Taking” in it's online issue "Camp al Battar",since then we have had Two Hostage situations, one, the recent Paul Johnson, Who was Beheaded (God
rest his soul), and now a South Korean Hostage. There is less than 24 hours for the South Korean Government to make up their minds, Pull out of Iraq,
or a civilian dies. I'm assuming Political pressure will be on them from Washington. I am also assuming that no deal will be made.

So where does this leave us? How many 'Civilians' will have to die? I don't know if anyone has answers to these questions, I sure as hell don't.
The thing I do not understand is, it is not Al-Qaedas Motis-oper-endi to 'Bargain'. They strike, and without notice. The only thing I can think of
is that Osama Bin Laden is indeed in custody.

Hear me out a sec....
I have posted information I have received from someone "In the Know", that OBL was captured in Iran on Jan. 16th of this year. Of course take this
with a grain of salt, for I have no "Concrete Evidance". If OBL is not in command, His successor does not seem to be following his Ideals and
Strategy, if you will. We have not seen or heard any "NEW" evidance as to OBL's condition, nor any remarks from himself regarding instances in the
past couple of months.

Looking over info from the Cole, Embassy, and 9-11 Attacks, to me, it does not seem like the same leader as then. Of course IMHO. Anybody involved in
a Militant group seems to 'claim' to be part of Al-Qaeda, or at least represent their intresets.

Originally posted by namehere
wtf has south korea done to them? they are only helping build stuff, they havent hurt any iraqi at all.

thats the problem with terrorists, they dont give a rusty #. if you arent with them you are their enemy and they will kill you or want to
passionately. you cant fit their hatred into a nice neat category and make sense of it.

but wait, i thought terrorists only hated the western world and america? looks like they're becoming less picky arent they? only a matter of time
it seems.

this is something someone i wont name has been saying...this isnt just an american problem and never was, some people only wanted to pretend it was.

I sense, from postings to this news, that everyone seems shocked and disturbed at the tactics used by fighters/murders in Iraq.
Put in a similar situation,ie; having your country controlled by an invading army which dictates your life-style, some of us would react the same.
Understand, that in no way do i condone the terror that this man is having to endure,but let us be conscience of why these things are happening.
An end to this occupation must come sooner rather than later.

I'm all about freedom of the press but the only way to put an end to this is to quit broadcasting the kidnappings and reports of the beheadings. If
this stuff vanishes from the press it will eliminate the reason these people are doing it. Which is for attention.

Originally posted by stefanclozza
Understand, that in no way do i condone the terror that this man is having to endure,but let us be conscience of why these things are happening.
An end to this occupation must come sooner rather than later.

right, south korea isnt occupying iraq and hasnt used their weapons on anyone, most of their troops in iraq are engineers, medics, etc, they have no
qualm with anyone but north korea, this kidnaping makes no sense really.

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